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Surxondaryo Region

Surxondaryo Region (Uzbek: Surxondaryo viloyati, Сурхондарё вилояти, Persian: سرخان‌دریا‎, UniPers: "sorxāndaryā"), old spelling Surkhandarya Region is a viloyat (region) of Uzbekistan, located in the extreme south-east of the country. Established on March 6, 1941, it borders on Qashqadaryo Region internally, and Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan externally, going anticlockwise from the north. It covers an area of 20,100 km². The population is estimated at 1,925,100 (end of 2005 data), with 80% living in rural areas.[1] According to official data, 83% of the population are Uzbeks and 1% Tajiks,[2] but non-official statistics show Surxondaryo is a Persian-speaking area, because most Tajiks of Uzbekistan are concentrated in the Surxondaryo, Samarkand and Bukhara regions.[3] The highest point of the Region and also of Uzbekistan is Khazrati Sulton peak reaching 4,643 m/15,233 ft in Gissar Range.[4]

The climate is continental, with mild wet winters and hot dry summers. The southern part of the region is in the Badkhiz-Karabil semi-desert ecoregion (PA0808), characterized by a savanna of pistachio and desert sedge. The northern portion is characterized by open woodlands (Gissaro-Alai open woodlands ecoregion, PA1306), with characteristic plants being pistachio, almond, walnut, apple, and juniper. Sagebrush is common at lower elevations [5][6]

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Bitter debates accompanied the Soviet allocation of Surkhandarya Region to the Uzbek SSR rather than the Tajik SSR in 1929, as that region, as well as the areas of Bukhara and Samarkand, had sizeable, if not dominant, Tajik populations.

Agriculture accounts for 42% of total employment in Surxondaryo Region and produces 8% of Uzbekistan’s agricultural output. Agricultural production is 56% crops and 44% livestock (like the country’s average). Milk yields are less than 1,700 kg per cow per year, on a par with the national average.

^Lena Jonson (1976) "Tajikistan in the New Central Asia", I.B.Tauris, p. 108: "According to official Uzbek statistics there are slightly over 1 million Tajiks in Uzbekistan or about 3% of the population. The unofficial figure is over 6 million Tajiks. They are concentrated in the Sukhandarya, Samarqand and Bukhara regions."